Video

First Time Authors Reveal All

Debut authors share the inspirational and informative true stories behind their paths to publication, from working with the largest mainstream publishing houses to breakthrough new ways to reach readers. Learn about the many options available to authors today. This video is a recording of a live event at Foundation Center San Francisco, offered in partnership with Litquake, San Francisco’s literary festival.

The Authors:

Val Brelinski is a recent Wallace Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer at Stanford University where she currently teaches fiction writing. Her debut novel, The Girl Who Slept with God (Viking Penguin), was published in 2015.

Alex Dolan is a writer and musician based in California. His first book, The Euthanist, is published through Diversion Books and represented by the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

Yuri Kagan is a comedian who spent 10 years bartending in San Francisco’s Castro District and is the author of Vodka and Limelight.

Jessica Levine’s first novel, The Geometry of Love, was a 2015 top 10 women’s fiction title in the American Library Association’s Booklist. She holds an M.A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley.

Originally from Houston, Gwendolyn Womackmajored in theatre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and received an MFA in Directing Theatre and Film from CalArts. She lives in LA and is working on her next novel.